I saw a video on the YouTube channel 'Boda' where they explained the properties of quantum mechanics through the double-slit experiment, and it was super interesting. They kept it pretty light, so I did some Googling and asked GPT about it, and man, this stuff is actually fun.

To put the double-slit experiment simply: it’s this pointless exercise where you fire electrons one by one at a plate with two holes (the double slit) in a vacuum, then check the patterns they leave on a special screen behind it to see how they're distributed.

But the results are weird as hell. Under the same conditions, if you "observe" the electrons, they behave like particles. If you don’t observe them, they behave like waves. You're probably thinking, "What the hell?" right? These two scenarios should make it easier to get: 1) Unobserved result: If electrons were particles, they should leave two lines since they went through two slits. But instead, they form an interference pattern, like ripples when you throw two stones into a lake. Since they were fired one by one, they shouldn't be bumping into each other to cause that.

AI Translated Image

2) Observed result: You get two lines, exactly matching the number of slits, just like common sense dictates.

AI Translated Image

You might think, "Wait, so if I stare at it with my own two eyes, it shows two lines?" but looking into it, the term "observation" is super misleading. Most people hear "observe" and think of a person looking or a camera recording, but that’s not it. Long story short, "observation" in quantum mechanics means "interaction with something else." When we see something, light hits the object, bounces off, and hits our retinas. Seeing = an interaction between the "object - light - eyes." But this interaction doesn't need a sentient being or a video. Actually, it's impossible with current tech to see an electron in real-time. In the experiment, they set up a device near the slits. Electrons have a property called "spin," which has direction. The device creates a magnetic field to give electrons a specific spin—say, "Up" for the left slit and "Down" for the right. By tagging the path like this, the electron's path is no longer a matter of probability. In quantum terms, they call this "entanglement." By entangling the electron with the spin, the path loses its wave-like nature. More accurately, the *path* of the electron loses its wave property. In the experiment, this is what they call "observing." That's why they hit the screen in two lines without interference. Here’s the crazy part: even if we have no way of knowing which spin the electron had just by looking at the screen, the mere fact that an unrecorded "observation" happened makes it lose its wave property and act like a particle. When it's not observed, the path isn't determined, so it behaves like a wave with half-and-half probability. This one experiment proves that in the microscopic world, things act like classical physics when observed, but show probabilistic amplitude when they aren't. There's even an expanded version where they put a "de-spinning" device behind the slits, and the wave pattern comes back. It's totally mind-blowing. Conclusion: Life is a simulation and we're just brains in a vat. Log out! Log out! Log out! Log out! Log out! Log out! Log out! Log out!